Okay we have 7 day old Tahoe grey plaster. Brushing regularly as advised. See a lot of mottling on sun shelf, black spots, and cracking. Is this normal for new plaster or is this a bad plaster job?
New Tahoe grey plaster (7 days old). Is this normal?
- Thread starter JessicaJoyner
- Start date
Hi,
Welcome to TFP.
I am not a plaster expert, but if it were mine, I would not be happy.
There are tons of people here who have similar things happen, and when it comes the darker the plaster the more exacting it is to apply and cure so that this doesn't occur.
There is a science to plaster which is evident by the amounts of complaints, that most plaster folks do not fully understand. The water content of the plaster mix, calcium content, and how the plaster was cured and taken care and just as important. The quality of the plaster team of all play a large role in the final result.
Hopefully, one of the plaster experts who actually work in that industry will come along and give a better opinion than I can.
In the meantime, here is a link in the TFP pool school about plaster start up. If you'll make yourself familiar with this, it will be helpful for answering questions which likely will be asked by some folks who follow up.
Pool School - Start-up New Plaster
Welcome to TFP.
I am not a plaster expert, but if it were mine, I would not be happy.
There are tons of people here who have similar things happen, and when it comes the darker the plaster the more exacting it is to apply and cure so that this doesn't occur.
There is a science to plaster which is evident by the amounts of complaints, that most plaster folks do not fully understand. The water content of the plaster mix, calcium content, and how the plaster was cured and taken care and just as important. The quality of the plaster team of all play a large role in the final result.
Hopefully, one of the plaster experts who actually work in that industry will come along and give a better opinion than I can.
In the meantime, here is a link in the TFP pool school about plaster start up. If you'll make yourself familiar with this, it will be helpful for answering questions which likely will be asked by some folks who follow up.
Pool School - Start-up New Plaster
I recently got mine refinished in Tahoe Blue Quartz. I don't have the cracking problems, but I do have white spots, and splotchiness...I'm not too happy either, but I am going to wait the 30 days that the contractor requested. That said, I'm not going to accept a polka dot pool..lol. I'm far from an expert, but I would not accept that refinishing job.
The contractor said to wait 30 days? That makes me feel somewhat better. My contractor told me that the plaster will look funny and change colors as it cures and that it looks exactly as it should at this point. And he may be right, I just expected a smooth uniform finish. I grew up with a pool with white plaster, so there was no color variation and I just don’t know if this normal.
I'm kind of in the same boat as you. My hope is that the problem areas disappear. But, those areas in yours that look like cracks, I dont know. Just like the white spots in mine, I don't see them going away. But again, I'm no expert. I will certainly follow your progress, please update if you can.
I don’t see the cracks going away either. The mottling may even out with brushing. We did see changes in our pebble with brushing but we have a light coloured pebble that never really looked mottled and definitely no cracking. I guess you need to give it the full 30 days and see what it looks like then.
Same thing happened to my cousin- the cracked look and mottling. She had the Midnight Blue Quartzscapes installed. PB said it was an issue with installation by the plaster crew. They ended up redoing the entire thing. It looks a lot better.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 65,889
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
It is unlikely to improve on it's own. Read my story here https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/160804-Replastering-a-Pool-A-1-Year-Saga-Problems-amp-Lessons-Learned
Notify your PB in writing of the problems. Document everything and save your water tests. See how things develop in the coming months, keep your PB informed, and see if the problems stabilize at some point or continue to worsen. At some time things may get bad enough that everyone will agree that something needs to be done.
The cracks are the most concerning. Some mottling and spots is to be expected.
You will learn if your PB is one of the good guys who stands behind his work.
Notify your PB in writing of the problems. Document everything and save your water tests. See how things develop in the coming months, keep your PB informed, and see if the problems stabilize at some point or continue to worsen. At some time things may get bad enough that everyone will agree that something needs to be done.
The cracks are the most concerning. Some mottling and spots is to be expected.
You will learn if your PB is one of the good guys who stands behind his work.
